


a mighty stranger

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29276784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: "No, Tony. No, Tony, fuck you, don't ask me to— to—""Let me go."Canon-divergent fic where Steve and Tony go to Vormir instead of Clint and Natasha. Goes about as well as one would expect.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2020





	a mighty stranger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [semioticdaydream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/semioticdaydream/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [semioticdaydream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/semioticdaydream/pseuds/semioticdaydream) in the [stony_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2020) collection. 



> Written for the POTS stocking event for the following prompt:
> 
> _One of the two makes an unexpected sacrifice play and the other attempts (successfully or unsuccessfully) to save him._
> 
> Title from Emily Brontë's _Wuthering Heights_. Hope you enjoy!!

Tony felt Steve's palm sweating through the fabric of the flight suit he was wearing.

Hah. One of the few times he was actually wearing his flight suit and that's when this happened. Tony couldn't stop the laugh that fell from his lips.

"You think this is funny?" Steve's voice was heat and anger and frustration wrapped around the bone-deep loss that only Tony or Nat could have heard in his voice.

"No." There was conviction in Tony's voice, the kind of conviction he hadn't been able to maintain the last time someone had asked him that question. "No, it isn't funny. I know that. But Steve. Honey. You have to let me go."

"Fuck that, Tony, I'm not going to just— just—"

"Do what you have to do to keep our team safe?"

Steve choked on a sob. "Why, Tony? Why didn't you let me do it?"

Tony blinked past the tears. He hadn't realized he was crying. "Can't let you go, Steve. Can't let you die again. Never again."

"Tony—"

"I've done my time, Steve. I've outlived the life I should have been allowed to have. I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason. This is my reason, Steve. Please. You have to let me go."

Steve's only response was to pull his hand away from where Tony's empty armor had been clutching at it. For a split second, they were both in free fall. Tony's stomach leapt into his throat. What would happen if they both died? Would the Stone be lost to both of them? Would it go to whoever survived longer? What—

Tony's stomach dropped to his feet as the armor caught Steve around his waist, pulling them both up short. Tony was sick to his stomach, the fear that Steve might find a way to outwit him or overpower him or _something_ —

But Steve was staring back at him with no hint of his tactician's face. Just terror, pure and simple, spread over his features.

Tony schooled his features into something calm and hopeful. "Steve."

"No, Tony. No, Tony, fuck you, don't ask me to— to—"

"Let me go."

Steve actually sobbed at that. "Tony—"

"Please, Steve. Let me do this for everyone. Let me be enough. Let _this_ be enough. Let me do this."

"Tony—"

"FRIDAY. You know what to do."

"Tony—"

"Roger that, Boss."

"No, FRIDAY, no, override code Steven Grant Rogers, Oscar-November-Lima-Yankee—"

"It's too late, Steve." Tony relaxed all his muscles, closed his eyes, and _fell_.

* * *

Steve doesn't know what it is that drives him to Thanos's side in the battle. There's something pulling him closer, closer, into the Titan's orbit. Something that puts him close enough to his side that, when the Gauntlet comes screaming through the air toward them, Steve can snatch it from the sky and pull it on. It hurts — _fuck_ , but it hurts — but in the instant when it slides over his hand, he can see this. The power of the Stones. And if he can reach through the Soul Stone to the other side then maybe— maybe—

_It's not gonna be that easy, Rogers._

_Not letting you go alone, Stark._

There's silence in the space where Steve can feel Tony's soul, and for a moment Steve thinks it's going to be impossible. _Alright, then. Together?_

Steve almost sobs with relief. _Together._

Steve lifts his hand, fingers trembling in the too-large gauntlet, but he can feel Tony's hands — one at his shoulder, one clasped between his gauntleted fingers — and, if he looks hard enough, he can see Tony's features before him, smiling warm and soft and gentle. Encouraging. Perfect. There's a whisper in the back of Steve's mind, tiny and insidious and terrible that tells him it's a lie, a mirage from the Stones, but if it is— if it _is_ —

Well. Then at least now he knows he'll see Tony on the other side.

Steve closes his eyes, pictures the world, reformed and reborn in his vision with Tony at his side, and, with all the conviction he's ever had in his heart, snaps.


End file.
